


Poor Connection, Strong Affection

by sweetheart2okapi



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Is Sunshine, Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Alternate Universe - No Miraculous, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Online Dating, Drama & Romance, F/M, Gabriel is a dick, Manipulative Lila Rossi, Online Friendship, Online Relationship, Shy Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, soft romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:09:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24712882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetheart2okapi/pseuds/sweetheart2okapi
Summary: Adrien has always been isolated from the world. He just wanted a friend. His life started to change when he got a computer for his birthday. All he wanted was friends, he never expected to fall in love with someone behind a screen.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Lila Rossi, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Luka Couffaine & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	Poor Connection, Strong Affection

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, hello! This is my first time using A03 to post my writing. I'm very nervous but I hope you like it! I've been obsessing over Mari/Adrien that I have maybe about like 40 written ideas?? This idea was inspired by a very talented author Amehanaa. I'll stop talking now.

Adrien had everything that most people wanted. Living in a mansion, a two story bedroom that was equipped with a skating ramp, a zip line, a rocking climbing wall and endless fans cheering his name. People mainly envied Adrien's life, but he would trade it all with someone in a heart beat.

As much as he enjoyed all the cool things in his room, he was lonely.

Being the son of a world renowned fashion designer, and a model himself, he wasn't allowed to go out places unless he had his bodyguard with and his assistant scheduled his time out. Even then, he only left the house whenever it was time for his fencing practices, modeling gigs, or whenever he was forced to make an appearance with his father.

He begged to be put into public school, really wanting to make friends, but alas the idea was always rejected.

He just wanted a friend.

His birthday was almost coming up, and Adrien knew he wasn't going to get his wish of going to school so he tried something different. He begged to his father—while technically he begged to Nathalie his assistant who then passed the message on to Gabriel—for a laptop. He came up with a good reason as to why he should have a laptop, saying he could use it for more studying, it'd help with his Chinese lessons, and he could do more research.

Of course, that wasn't the real reason as to why he wanted a laptop, but his father didn't need to know.

On his sixteenth birthday, he got his wish.

After a long day of photos, Adrien is greeted by the sight of three monitors at his desk. His father definitely went overboard, but he wasn't surprised. He was just glad that at least one of his wishes came true.

He ran downstairs, asking Nathalie to thank his dad, but also thanking her as well for convincing him.

He went back to his room and sat at his desk.

For hours, he looked up everything he could thing of. From things relating to physics, and new anime to watch. His happiness didn't last for very long when the sense of loneliness took over again.

One night, he typed in the search bar: 'How to Make Friends'.

Maybe if he was lucky, he'd get a second birthday wish.

And maybe this one would come true as well.

.

.

Eventually, he ended up finding just what he was looking for. Finding, the website had been a complete accident actually. Adrien had mistakenly clicked on an ad that directed him there. He'd liked to describe it as a site of the gifted. The website's main focus was for those to share their hobbies and many talents. There were many blogs link in the multiple rooms, for people to chat about what they were passionate about.

He had to create a username, in order to join. Of course, he couldn't use his actual name. Regardless of how generic his name was, if it somehow someone found his real identity and word got back to his father, Adrien was positive his father would take away all his electronics and he'd been isolated once again. So thus, the name Chat Noir was born.

.

.

The day, he met his best friend was a surprise.

Adrien never talked yet, instead he just observed what the other users were saying. He was too nervous to actually type out a "hello", he just didn't know how to make friends.

But later in the evening, Adrien saw them chat about some sort of "Talent Show" room. Curious, the teenager clicked on the name and was taken on the other side of the website. The layout was the same as all the other rooms, except above the chat room was a big screen. Everyone who was in the room had the ability to see and hear whomever decided to take over the screen.

On the screen now was someone by the name of Nino—which Adrien guessed was the person's real name. There wasn't anything really to look at, just a plain black ground that said, "Nino is Performing" in bold white letters. But there was a lot to hear, Adrien quickly found out that Nino was some kind of DJ, and was obviously gifted in music field.

Once the song died down, Nino exited off the screen but continued to type in chat.

"That was amazing, you're really talented." Adrien said. The first time he has ever spoke on there.

"Hey, thanks man." Nino replied back quickly.

The blonde grinned.

.

.

Nino tried to get Adrien to perform on the website.

"Dude, there has to be something you can show off!" Nino pressed.

Adrien rolled his tense shoulders. Basketball, fencing and speaking Mandarin hardly seemed like something that would be cool enough to show on live. "Not really," he typed, "They're all stuff that would seem cooler in person."

"C'mon dude, there has to be at least one thing." Nino continued.

He hesitated, "I play piano."

Next thing he knew Nino was forcing him to take over the performer screen. It had been a long lesson of the DJ explaining how to record from his cellphone, since he didn't have a portable camera, and how to make sure the audio sounded nicely. The set up wasn't the best, his phone on the top of his piano, camera facing downwards. Only his fingers and the keys of the piano were visible so it was good enough for his first and only performance.

He took a deep breath before his long fingers danced over the keys—creating a beautiful sound.

.

.

He ended his performance with soft notes, the melody slowing fading away, yet echoing in his room.

Adrien didn't expect anyone to enjoy his playing, he never expected to play for many people. So, it wasn't odd for him to be surprised of all the compliments flooding the chat when he finished the piece.

"Dude," Nino wrote, "You have got to do this again!"

.

.

It has roughly been about four months since Adrien joined the server, and it had been roughly three months that day of Chat Noir becoming a regular performer. He usually played whenever his presence was requested or whenever he was in a bad mood after fighting with his father. The latter situation, unfortunately, was the one that made him want to play today.

Another fight of him begging his father to let him go to public school—once again ending in defeat and a threat to take away his computer and phone. Adrien didn't know if his dad would ever give him the freedom that dreamed off, but for now, joining Miraculous was the closest thing he had to being free and he would be damned if he let his father take that away from him.

He hopped on a little later than he usually did, mainly due to his busy schedule today. He itched to play something fast and loud, just something to get his frustration out.

Someone was already occupying the live screen. It was a really talented artist, who was drawing a character from one of their comic books. He has seen them on from time to time, showing off their work, but Adrien has never really tried to have a conversation with them. But, if they were the one recording, he could check out the other chat rooms.

He surfed through the chat rooms, hoping to join a conversation—maybe even make a new friend.

And that's when he saw her name for the first time.

"Hey, does anyone know where Ladybug is?" Someone asked.

"Yeah where is she? She hasn't been live in a few weeks, I thought she was coming on tonight."

"I don't know," another artist chimed in, "I think she said she was busy?"

"Hopefully she's okay." The conversation ended.

Another user had asked everyone on what they should eat for dinner and so the conversation shifted towards that.

He hasn't seen any user named Ladybug, in fact, he didn't really see anyone talk about someone named Ladybug. But, then again, he was usually in the Talent Show Room or one on one messaging Nino. So, maybe he was just blind towards this person.

The artist, named Nathaniel was still performing, so maybe Adrien could quickly knock out his Chinese lesson for today.

.

.

When he came back to his computer, he saw her.

"Guys, I'm not dead." She emphasized, "I've just been busy."

"Ladybug, it's been forever since you've showed off your designs, please tell me you have something to show." A blogger whined, a virtual whine that is.

So she was a designer? Huh.

"Sorry, but there's really nothing to show yet." Her message read.

The others complained.

Another musician in the chat asked, "Hey, Chat Noir! Are you going to play tonight?"

"Yeah, Chat! Please!"

He felt unsure, waiting to know more about this ladybug girl. "I guess I can." He typed. The others started to cheer in chat. He glanced at the screen and saw that Ladybug was still talking to the others, and for some reason the need to impress her took over. So before he could stop himself, he wrote in chat, "I'm dedicating this to Ladybug."

He quickly grabbed his phone, leaving his desk to make his way over towards his piano.

Why would you say that? Stupid, stupid, stupid!

His cheeks were red as he set his phone down in its usual position on top of the piano, double checking to make sure only his hands were in view before he clicked on the 'Go Live' option.

It only took a few seconds before people started to come in and view his performance. For some reason, he hoped she joined as well—considering he was dedicating this performance for her and all.

He slammed his fingers down on the keys. A beautiful mixture of sound echoed throughout his room, as his fingers launched themselves towards the other white and black keys.

He found himself quietly humming along, his foot pressing one of the pedals to hold the note longer. Mind filled with bliss, his right hand continued with the beautiful soft paced melody. Adrien continued to pick up speed as the notes floated in his head. Of course, he was just free-styling—there were no set in stone notes—yet everything seemed perfect. The rising and descending of the melodic lines bounced off the walls, it felt nice.

He pressed on the keys, the sound echoing once more but this time softly. He gave it a few seconds before he exited off of live and went back to his computer. He quickly typed before the flooding of compliments rose, "Hope you liked that." He knew he directed that sentence towards her. He figured that the others knew as well, and he was pretty positive that Ladybug knew too.

The compliments started to pile in, the chat was moving fast. He didn't see her name, and he was afraid that maybe he scared her off.

Well, who wouldn't be scared after some random person decides to dedicate a song to you?

He scoffed to himself, but he still hoped.

There was nothing. The compliments died down, and the chat slowed down as they asked who else was going to perform tonight.

But at the bottom of the chat, he saw her response.

"Thank you."

It was short and simple.

But still—

Somehow it made his heart soar.

.

.

The next time he found Ladybug online, he was requested to play a song. The blonde shrugged, there was nothing else to do and he was happy that him playing made others happy, so why not. "Sure." He wrote.

"Is this performance also dedicated to Ladybug?" The blogger, who went by the name of Alya, said—obviously meaning for it to be a joke.

But it seemed right for all of his performances to be dedicated to someone.

"Yes," Adrien said.

His fingers hovered over his keyboard before dangerously typing, "Always."

The song he played was short but still dazzling. It was soft, but still the chords had strength—carrying the sound for as long as he wanted. He enjoyed this feeling. Not so much playing, he didn't really have a passion for that anymore. It was the feeling of being wanted, and that's what made him continued to play. If he could muster these emotions in the songs he played, others could feel it.

He hit the last note before joining the others in chat.

"Oooh," Someone teased, "Chat Noir said always."

"How does that make you feel, Ladybug?" The others joked.

He chuckled, "Hey, since I dedicated two songs for you, maybe you'll show me two of your designs. It's only fair." He typed.

"Yeah, it's only fair." The teasing continued.

But Ladybug never responded back. In fact, the green dot by her name disappeared before a grey dot appeared by her name.

She went offline.

.

.

It was obvious he had some sort of crush on her.

"Instead of flirting with her, why don't you actually try talking to her like a normal human?" Nino's voice said in his headphones. His crush was obvious enough that his online friend had called him in the middle of the day, after another failed attempt of trying to have a conversation with the mysterious designer.

It had only taken a few weeks to declare Nino as his best friend, and shortly after it didn't take long for Nino to convince him to voice call instead of their usual messaging.

Adrien choked, "I don't flirt with her!"

The blonde could practically hear the DJ roll his eyes, "Yes of course, always dedicating your songs to a girl doesn't count as flirting. My mistake." Nino said flatly.

Adrien rolled his shoulders, "I...I'm just afraid to talk to her. I don't think she likes me."

"Okay, I'll bite. Why do you even think that?"

He didn't hesitate with his answer, "She seems to be uncomfortable whenever I'm around her." Before Nino could object, he continued, "She always disappears whenever I'm on, and she doesn't seem to like when I try and talk to her."

On the other side of the computer, Nino groaned. "Dude, you know I got your back. But do you ever notice all the teasing that the others do whenever you two are on at the same time? I've known Ladybug for about a year now, she just doesn't like when the attention is directed towards her—especially when it involves someone."

Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

Adrien swallowed thickly. He'd get back to the fact that Nino had known Ladybug for a year and didn't give him any sort of information about her until now. Until after he had fucked up.

"I need to apologize."

.

.

It was just about to hit one in the morning, when he found himself logging on to Miraculous. He couldn't sleep, and since he didn't have to wake up super early in the morning, he figured there'd be no harm in chatting.

"Your lives just got better, now that I'm here." Adrien declared.

At the same time, Ladybug had written, "Hi, everyone."

"Look it's Ladynoir." Alya teased.

"Ladynoir?" Ladybug questioned.

"Your ship name!"

Ship name?

"We're not a thing." Ladybug's message said. Just as Adrien wrote, "It's not like that."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" They shook it off, "It's only a matter of time before ya'll start dating. Make sure you invite us to the wedding."

"Do you think he'll dedicate a song to her on their wedding night?!" A girl named Rose chimed in.

"Of course!"

The teasing continued, and Ladybug fell silent.

Adrien felt guilty.

The situation reminding the teenager of what Nino told him earlier.

"—she just doesn't like when the attention is directed towards her—especially when it involves someone."

"Guys, really you should stop joking about stuff like that." Adrien said firmly.

"Oh, come on Chat Noir, we were just joking!"

He grew irritated, "It wasn't funny."

He clicked on her username seeing that she was still online and pressed on the option to direct message her. He stumbled over what to say—constantly typing and then deleting his message. "Hey," he started off. "I'm really, really, sorry about creating this situation for you." He sighed loudly, "I really didn't think they'd be like this, and if I knew this would happen I would have never dedicated that song to you. I'm so sorry, Ladybug. Honest."

Not in the mood to read chat anymore, he tried turning his attention to something else. Maybe he could update his profile? Maybe he could look at the other talented people. But sadly, nothing seemed to take his attention more, than watching his inbox—begging that a number would appear by it. But there was nothing. He threw his head back groaning, he wouldn't be surprised if she was ignoring him.

She probably thinks you're a creep and that's why she's not responding.

He wished he had taken Nino's advice the first time when he told him to talk to her like a normal person. But it was like she sucked out the smug, flirty, persona from him. He didn't know why, but oh he wished somehow he could fix it—maybe even been friends like he was with Nino.

Adrien figured Ladybug wasn't going to respond, and since he really didn't want to go back to chat, he'd log out.

Just before the cursor hovered over the log out link, his inbox started blinking with a red number. He clicked on it, and a familiar ladybug avatar popped up in the corner of the screen.

She replied?

He clicked on the avatar.

Her messaged read, "You should say sorry."

W-what?

Before he can type out another apology, she sent another message, "Shouldn't," she corrected herself. "I'm sorry, autocorrect is not my friend. But really, it's not that big of a deal."

"It made you uncomfortable, it is a big deal." He argued. "I told the others to stop joking about it. If it'll make anything better, I'll stop dedicating songs to you." He still felt guilty, he even wrote, "I know I make you feel uncomfortable, so I can stop talking to you if you'd like."

It didn't take long for her to respond back.

"No, no! It's not you! I mean, I could do without the relentless teasing from everyone. It's already annoying when Alya messages me about that, so it's even worse when everyone in chat joins in."

What does she mean by Alya messaging her?

She sent another message right after to connect with her first, "You don't have to stop dedicating songs to me. If you want to that is! You play beautifully."

"Thanks," He sent. He paused before continuing, "I'm confused though, if it wasn't the piano or everyone else, then what was it?"

She doesn't respond for a bit.

"Um, you know when you asked to see a couple of my designs?" She asked.

His heart clenched, "So it was me?"

He received four different messages.

"No!" Was the first one.

"Well yes..." The second.

"But no." The third one.

"Ugh! I'm making this worse than it actually is."

He didn't know what she wanted him to say, so he wrote, "Just a little."

"Just...when you asked to see my designs, I just have to know, did you mean it? About wanting to see them?"

Adrien blinked. What was the right answer? He didn't want to scare her off again.

Hoping to lighten up the mood, he typed, "I was kinda joking when I said that."

It took five minutes for her to reply back, he counted.

"Oh." Was all her message said.

Fuck.

Wrong answer.

Trying to salvage the conversation he typed fast, "I mean I can't lie, a part of me was curious to see them. Everyone has been going on about how talented you are and how cool your designs are so I am interested in wanting to see them. But I figured you wouldn't be comfortable with that, so I thought joking about it would be better, but it wasn't. I'm not good when it comes to jokes." He was going on a tangent. "So, uh yeah, I really would like to see the stuff you've come up with, but if not, then that's totally okay." He ended his long message with a smiley face, hoping that would make her less tense.

Another five minutes.

"That's..." He could tell she was struggling to find the right words, so he let her take her time. "That's not a problem, I'd be glad to show you some things. After all, you did dedicate two songs for me."

Was, was she flirting with him? No, he was just reading too much into it.

"Cool." He replied back.

"Are you busy tomorrow?" She asked.

"What time tomorrow?"

"I'm available any time after 8pm. That is if you're also CET?" She trailed off with her response, unsure.

"I'm CET." He confirmed. "I won't be on until later anyway." He had to check his schedule, but he was sure his father had scheduled him for a back to back photo shoot—not that he would ever tell Ladybug that.

"I'll be up." She assured him.

The blonde was unsure of what to send, so he settled with just a regular smiley face.

"It's getting pretty late, I have to go to bed soon." She sent.

He checked the clock, it was two am, he spent an hour talking to this girl. Well, it would have been shorter, if she didn't take so long responding.

"Yeah, I should probably head to bed too." He grinned, "Goodnight, My Lady."

She doesn't reply.

Instead he saw her say her goodbyes to everyone in chat, despite everyone's plead for her to stay on longer.

Great, he scared probably scared her off with the nickname. It probably was overkill, and he probably brought back the fear of him being a creep to her.

Way to fuck up again, Agreste.

But the message she sent him changed his thoughts.

.

.

"Maybe work on the nicknames there, Kitty."

.

.

He grinned, maybe she didn't think too badly of him after all.

**Author's Note:**

> That's the end for the first chapter. I had this sitting in my drafts for awhile, too afraid to post it. If anyone did like this one, I'll try to update as quick as I can (pretending that I've never abandoned works on other sites). If you didn't really enjoy it I still appreciate you giving it a read. Take care of yourselves! (:


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